Blog Entries for Magandeep Singh

Looking back, and peering ahead

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 20:28:03 +0100

There is something about the Yuletide spirit that makes me want to call in sick at my AAA and maybe even buy a gift for my parole officer. Maybe you can tell me why, but the inmates at this facility don’t seem to quite understand me.

Off all my vices, I list forgetfulness as highly problematic. It doesn’t help when conversation veers towards old vintages of Bordeaux wines and I find myself fumbling for my phone to see if I have my notes there, or else to crank up [...]

The true art of Sommellerie

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:30:00 +0100

Recently a lot of tripe has been published about sommeliers and their irrepressible habit to upsell wine just so to maximise profits. This question has been asked of me very often recently, so I think it is time someone addressed it. Not just to justify the stance or the situation of this metier in India but also to try and wipe out the ignorance that persists on the subject.

Sommellerie is an art. It is NOT about, to put it simply, selling wines. It is about serving the wine, the rig [...]

Bordeaux First-Day First-Show

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 12:30:00 +0100

There is a certain pleasure to be derived from being the first to taste it. A certain sense of privilege and premium attached to the notion of having experienced what others haven’t been able to reach yet. This is exactly the kind of high that lies in store for anybody at the Bordeaux en primeur tastings.

Imagine, the one wine region which is more spoken about than any other region singularly. Now imagine the best of the winemakers in this region. They receive a demand for [...]

Sons of the Soil

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:00:00 +0100

They say kids take on the traits of their parents. Apart from the resembling nose, eye or jawline, they also seem to get infused with their habits, their mannerisms and general way of life. Wines aren’t too different in that sense. They are very representative of the grape that they come from (lineage) and reflect a strong sense of the place where they are grown (background). Further, they can be interpreted in a hundred different ways and are complex (like women!).

&n [...]

Why everything might soon taste like Bordeaux

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:00:00 +0100

I remember trying a salmon Carpaccio for the first time. Even before the dish arrived, I was trying to ascertain what exactly it could be about thin strips of raw fish with some oil on top that could have others around me so eagerly salivating. The dish came and sure enough it didn’t quite do it for me. The taste was bland, fishy, salty and far from anything that I perceived as delicious. Nobody, I thought, in their right mind would ever pay any amount - no matter how small - to eat [...]

The New Eastern Wave

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 18:00:00 +0100

From call centres to construction, nuclear presence to new industries, India and China are the closest contenders for future world powers. While that may take some time, a more local war being fought is between Indian and Chinese restaurants to woo the local diner.

And China seems to have the hold as there just aren’t as many Indian restaurants in the Pan-Asian belt as we can find right here in our homeland. Chinese cuisine finds wide acceptance and always manages to pleas [...]

The Tale of Bordeaux

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0100

We all have heard how Bordeaux is to wines what Lucknow is to kebabs, and Hyderabad is to Biryanis. The region is always in the news, for good reasons or otherwise, and with every sip taken or spat, the popularity and notoriety of this region only grows.

I strongly believe that nothing builds a brand better than measured conspiracies and monitored rumours, and in that sense, the plethora of writers and reporters have unwittingly elevated Bordeaux, so much so that today, if y [...]

Wine terms of significance

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:00:00 +0100

A Wine Glossary: A list of words found at the end of a book that the author uses constantly, often just to impress readers. The author might not remember the meaning of these words themselves...so he puts them at the end where he can refer to them all the time.

Let's take a look at some of the commonly dropped wine terms in polite society, in random order:

Tannin: The bitter sensation mostly associated with red wine. Different grapes produce wines wi [...]

Re-New Zealand

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sat, 01 May 2010 17:00:00 +0100

Whenever I get flak for my columns, it is mostly directed to my choice of titles, which are generally quite unimaginative, and cheesy. Apparently my titles make wine even more boring, something that was considered impossible even by the most cynical of critics!

But I have several reasons behind the title of this piece. Two reasons actually. Here’s the first one.

New Zealand has done what no other country could do: displace the myth that only France can make Sauvi [...]

Why is wine so hard to sell?

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 17:00:00 +0100

Would you know how to define a hard sell? I don't, hence the question.

For me the words seem self explanatory; rainbows would be a hard sell in the land of the colour-blind. Whisky is a hard-sell in the land of free narcotics. Wine, on the other hand, is a hard sell, period. No conditions required. It’s just hard.

The thing is this: wine seems complicated. It really isn’t complicated, but people make it so. They co [...]

The Package Deal

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:00:00 +0100

Packaging matters, no matter what the industry.

Recently, in fact as recent as about five minutes before I started writing this, I received something about how wine packaging is undergoing change. South Africa has launched a new campaign about how their new light-weight bottles would help the economy, environment and the people of the world in general. The new bottles with screw-cap will weigh 350 grams, about 150 grams lighter than previous versions. Sure it doesn [...]

Wine Vows

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:00:00 +0100

I find it not so surprising that the word ‘vow' rhymes with ‘wow'. The minute you use the first one, others exclaim the second, and that is mostly because the word vow, by construct, seems wired to fail. In fact so linked are the two words that in both in the Indian and Iberian sub-continent and peninsula, even the pronunciation is almost the same and unless you were aware of the context the word was used in, you would never know which one it was. Luckil [...]

Comparing Competitions

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:00:00 +0100

So they say competition is a good thing. It brings out the best in us. Well, I don't believe so. Not always. Especially not when I’m losing. But that rarely happens. Like never. So I don't really know exactly what I’m complaining about.

Moving on then.

I have been one of the few who have judg [...]

My hectic December

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:00:00 +0100

The last few weeks have been quite eventful, at least for me. I still haven’t managed to earn my Bentley but I work relentlessly, days on end, for that. Other things have however managed to keep my spirits alive and singing.

The first is the onset of winter. Most people stack away the summer wardrobe and bring out the [...]

Aperitif-ly speaking

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:00:00 +0100

First is an important position. You never forget the first time. First impressions are definitely lasting, if not the last. The first cut is the deepest. So, on that thought, the first drink is perhaps the most important of the evening.

An aperitif is meant to ignite the appetite, leave you wanting more to appease the senses. Generally wine and wine-based dr [...]

Wine Sense

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:00:00 +0100

Magandeep Singh blogs for the Wine Society of India about his adventures in the world of wine:

Wine sense is, personally speaking, a very important wine term. It symbolises all that is really needed for enjoyment: the wine, and the sense. While a million people write about wine, dissecting it, turning it over and around, very few people actually take the time to enjoy it.

This is exactly why wine sense is most similar to, and also almost as rare as, common sense [...]

Reading Wine Labels

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:00:00 +0100

Most people tend to read the words on a wine label about as much as they read the articles in Playboy. This is not a good thing if you are, let’s say, not absolutely versed with human anatomy, or the insides of a wine bottle! It always helps to know your way around, so to say.

A wine label is like a synopsis of the wine, attached to the bottle. It is part ID card, part storyteller for the wine it represents. You can acquire data and much more from it. Here is how it goes.

1. [...]

The Juice on Cognac

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:02:59 +0100

1. Cognac is pronounced ‘Con-yak’…don’t ask why.

2. All brandy ain’t Cognac, just like all Indians aren’t Punjabis! You have to be made in the region of Cognac to enjoy the classification. But it is fruit-based (grapes!) and hence for those who are scared of mixing their spirits, you could transfer between this and wine without a ‘souci’ in the world!

3. Cognac is not expensive just because it is old or because it is blend [...]

The recession aftermath

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:00:00 +0100

There is always a hedonistic downside to recession and I don't mean people losing jobs; work is by no means a luxury and no one should ever stoop down so low to afford some. I mean the replacement of the French hand-churned unsalted butter with an industrial spread. I am talking about the Bresse Poulet and the Australian lamb being substituted with local birds and sheep that are too skinny to be kept alive. Recession hits all areas but it leaves the most foul of tastes in the one industry [...]

If I had a penny

harsh@envigo.co.uk — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:00:00 +0100

Blog: Magandeep Singh

If I had a penny for:

1. Every vineyard manager who tells me his terroir is unique
2. Every wine consumer who told me screw caps are not good for wine
3. Every sommelier who told me he suggests red wine with red meat
4. Every third person with an accent who claims to be a Sommelier
5. Every second person with a laptop and an internet connection who claims to be a wine writer
6. Every wine snob who tells me how I am not adequately concerned a [...]